Beginnings and Endings
by The-Shadow002
Summary: Barasuishou has been defeated and the dolls defeated by her have been restored by Rozen. Her father has given Shinku a task that she must complete and Jun is determined to help her as much as he can. Continuing on from Traumend. Elements of the manga will be included.
1. Prologue

AN: I've decided to start my own Rozen Maiden story because I basically love the show more than any other and have now become utterly and totally addicted and obsessed about it / with it. I've gone and read through everything I can find so this is now the best way to stop myself going insane heh.

AN 10th November 2013: I have since starting this story been able to read through all 95 chapters of the manga that have been translated. Unfortunately that is all there is to the manga as it is currently discontinued. It will be interesting to see how Rozen Maiden 2013 goes as an Anime. Due to the fact that there is not really many 100K+ word stories for this show and it really deserves them given the way the way the manga cut off I have decided to start writing again to finish this story.

Spoilers: This story has information related to series one and two of Rozen Maiden and most likely the OVA as well Overture, if you haven't seen these all yet then you need to, though Overture isn't all that relevant at the moment and wont likely be for some time.

Disclaimer: Cats cant taste sugar.

Anfänge Und Enden

Beginnings and Endings

Prologue

Jun Sakurada looked around the room that he had been staying in one last time making sure that everything was ready for the trip back home from the field in which Enju's doll had defeated the Rozen Maidens and in turn had been destroyed by the combined Rosa Mystica's that it had absorbed. It had probably been the longest day of his relatively short life in more ways than one. But the dolls that he had come to treasure as part of his life were now all restored to life and working order, all bar two at least. So at least some of them had been able to see their father once again before they were to return to reality.

Leaving the room and closing the door behind him Jun rested his palm against the door for a moment, trying to embed the memories of the day into his mind as permanently as possible before walking down the hallway to the sun room where the dolls were now resting and waiting. The conscious ones all had their eyes open and slight smiles on their faces. There was a sorrow in their eyes however that even Jun could pick up as the maidens looked at their un-moving sisters that were with them. Everyone gathered together and moved out of the building in the center of the gardens heading towards the rose arch, which Shinku in his arms Jun lead the way stopping just in front of the arch so that Shinku could hold her hand out in front of her and open up the doorway through the N-field. The other dolls moved out ahead of them until only they remained in the deserted garden with its semi-destroyed mansion. Taking one final look around Jun moved through the archway.

The light that shone from the exit between the N-Field and the real world faded from around him and the doll he held in the crook of his arm. As they stepped out of the glass door and into the interior of the Sakurada living room Shinku was sitting comfortably on Jun's arm and they paused for a moment to take in the sight before them with both happiness and sadness. On the couch sat Suiseiseki next to her twin Souseiseki who seemed almost asleep oblivious to the world around her without her Rosa Mystica. Beside Souseiseki sat Hina Ichigo sleeping like her sister and for the same reason.

Shinku was happier then she had been for a while, she had seen her father and now she knew that there was another way to become Alice for him. Father had also charged her with restoring Souseiseki and Hina Ichigo back to their former selves, each enjoying life in their own ways. She was saddened by the events that had led to the need for such a search and the fact that her two sisters had no had the opportunity to see their father, though such a sight had come at great cost to them all. Shinku's thoughts continued on though various branches as Jun started walking over to the couch in front of the television.

Her thoughts where slightly distracted however when she found herself moved from Jun's arm to his lap as he sat down on the couch. Putting aside her thoughts she tuned in to the show ahead, no doubt filled with more amazing exploits of that amazingly intelligent detective Kun Kun. Shinku's was still slightly distracted even though her haze of Kun Kun idolization as she felt Jun put his arms around her while she sat on his lap. Turning her head she looked back at Jun raising an eyebrow in silent inquiry and got a small smile and a shrug of the shoulders in response. Feeling somewhat happy for an undefinable reason she settled herself back against him deciding the make the most of the situation. Feeling Jun's arms encircle her Shinku concentrated on the television ignoring the light blush on her cheeks that had no real reason to be there as far as she was concerned.

The human and 2 currently living dolls stayed as they were while the show was on, Shinku sitting comfortably on Jun's lap while Suiseiseki sat with her twin fussing over the still doll and Hina Ichigo sat between Souseiseki and Jun in their usual fashion of the past days. The end of the show had come and it would be time for them to move, thoughts of moving had a tinge of reluctance that Shinku had not experienced often in her life as it were. She was after all fairly comfortable in her present location so she dismissed the feeling believing she had found its source. She turned herself sideways so she could look at Jun and waited as he looked down at her movement.

"Jun I'd like you to take me upstairs while we wait for Nori to finish dinner," she said in her usual tone of voice and was a little surprised when Jun just nodded and after moving her from his lap to his arm he stood up and started to walk over to the stairs. Shinku remained silent for a moment a little surprised that Jun had not objected as was his usual way, as they went up the stairs she continued, "Additionally when you're done with this you will need to make me a cup of tea, the usual kind of course," she announced looking at him from her place on the crook of his arm. She expected some kind of resistance of course, Jun always put up a fight and she would have to teach him the error of his ways in her attempts to mold him into a proper obedient medium.

She tried not to let the surprise show on her face when all she got was a small smile and a "Yes Shinku," in response, she glared at him suspiciously and was surprised again when he just laughed and entered his room. Shinku waited while, without being asked Jun walked over to his bed and set her down on it before he left the room again, presumably to get her tea. Letting herself down from the bed onto the floor she went over to her shelf and pulled out the book she had been reading lately, as she gazed down the line of the shelf she was hit by sudden nostalgia as her eyes rested upon Hina Ichigo's possessions at the Sakurada residence.

Shinku allowed herself to remember the time spent with her sisters and medium over the past months and reaffirmed her desire to restore both her and Souseiseki to their former selves as their Father had tasked her. They would have to spend a large amount of time investigating the events around the fight with Barasuishou and the disappearence of Laplace and the two Rosa Mystica, not to mention the condition of the real seventh Rozen Maiden and her possible motives. Moving back to the bed she arranged herself comfortably and began reading while she waited for her medium to return with her tea.

The long day had moved on and the sun had set well past the horizon with only a dark purple visible as dusk gave way to true nightfall. They had all finished dinner and Jun had spent the rest of the time afterwards on his computer, his bedroom light providing illumination. Not that this was significant as far as Jun's usual activities went as that was where he always was when he wasn't at the library dealing with his schoolwork. The significant part was what Jun was doing on his computer. He had been on it for most of the day which had caused a faint tinge of regret in his heart as that was not what he wanted to be doing after he had made Shinku her tea. Since bringing her the cup which she had deemed acceptable he had sat in front of his computer breaking only for dinner. Continuously scrolling through pages of text and information he searched for information on what defined a medium and what they did or could do.

The general definition was one that didn't apply to him in the sense of the word. For most people a medium was someone who could channel spirits and talk to those who were no longer part of this world, for him however his existence as a medium consisted of supplying energy to the doll to which he was bonded and following through on the promise to protect her Rosa Mystica that he had made what seemed years ago when he kissed Shinku's rose ring.

He felt an uncommon swelling of anger and shame at the last thought. He had failed to uphold that promise today and if not for the appearance of Rozen would have lost Shinku and the other dolls as well. As annoying as Suiseiseki could be he had a fondness for her much as he did for Hina Ichigo and the other dolls who fought by Shinku's side. He was not happy with his performance today, if he had to put it in familiar terms he had taken a test today and failed miserably in his duties as a medium.

Poring over the information presented to him via the monitor he spent the hours sifting through useless information to find the few small gems that might prove useful when used with the training he had received today. Wading past the useless comments, old sayings and myths in place of real information he waded deeper into areas of mysticism and spiritualism. Moving through the semi-familiar areas of occultism and voodoo he moved on into theosophy, weeding out information on Atlantians, the Aryan race and five thousand year old societies. It was heavy going with a large part of the information irrelevant to what he was looking for and large slabs of text that were more suited to a university scholar than a middle school student. As the day progressed Jun thought to himself _There really is a lot of information on the net, but so much of it is useless for me_.

The day had passed faster then usual, but even with that said it was still a long day. Making Shinku another cup of tea and handing it over to her without a slap of hair to his face, he returned to his information gathering not noticing the odd look his doll cast his way. He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose as he rubbed his eyes, leaning back in his desk chair Jun stretched and looked at the clock on his PC. It was close to nine at night and almost time for Shinku to go to bed and tired as he was from the days events he was considering an early night as well.

Looking over at the doll on his bed Jun had several thoughts run through his mind as he watched her read peacefully, he continued to watch her for a few moments before he turned to his right and opened one of the desk draws removing an item from it holding it in his right hand. Turning back towards Shinku he walked over to the bed, he wanted to surprise her a little for once instead of the other way around.

He smiled slightly as he conducted his plan, sitting down behind the doll on the bed he picked her up and sat her between his legs in a quick motion so she would not drop her book, he grinned inside when Shinku let out a surprised "Jun!" before he continued undaunted and undid the bow underneath her chin that held her bonnet on and carefully removed it. He looked at her innocently as she threw a piercing gaze at him over her shoulder before he asked "Would you like to mark your place in the book before I continue?"

He felt a little nervous inside while she continued to look at him but kept it hidden and managed not to sigh in relief as she marked her page and set the book down on the outside of his left leg. Waiting for her nod of readiness he undid the two ribbons that held up Shinku's hair and placing them beside him he took the brush that he had kept in his hand and began to run it through the dolls golden hair. Her hair always amazed him, it was soft to the touch and smooth like silk and yet it was used to hit him around so viciously, the last part with thought of with a bit of self depreciation.

There was a happy silence between the two of them as Jun continued working on the hair, carefully brushing through the strands as he gathered them into his hand. Regardless of anything else this was something that he could do properly for her and he made sure he did it properly, he was concentrating on it so much that he was surprised when Shinku broke the silence to ask him her question.

"Jun, is there a particular reason you're doing this now? You've been acting quite odd all day, not with your usual behavior at all," he paused for a moment with his work as he thought about her question before he resumed brushing her hair.

"Well, its an apology of sorts, I wasn't very happy with what happened today and what happened was by no means your fault, it was mine. I didn't do what I should have and I failed to uphold the promise I made when I first accepted your contract, I also failed Suiseiseki as well for that matter." Jun paused to take a breath and continued while Shinku listened attentively turning around to look at him "I promised to protect your Rosa Mystica and I failed that, I would have lost you and the others today if it wasn't for your Father fixing everyone that fought against Barasuishou. So, all and all I'm not happy with myself and I'm doing this to try and make it up to you, though I would like to make it a regular thing regardless of that, I'm looking into ways to increase my power as a medium so you can draw more from me," he grinned at her "So if you have any suggestions in that area as opposed to suggestions on how I should behave I'd be appreciative."

He watched as Shinku cocked her head to one side slightly as was her habit when she was thinking about something, and waited patiently for her response, he didn't have to wait too long at least. "Well...I'm not sure what I can suggest right now for you to increase the power you have, though I know that as our bond grows stronger so will your power and the amount that I can safely draw from you," she paused again thinking something through it seemed "Today was not your fault, you stopped me for the right reasons, even though the way I responded wasn't correct. I should never have taken my eyes off her so its not your fault, though I can understand your feelings on this matter," he watched as she turned her back to him clearly signaling that he should continue with her hair.

He took up the brush again and continued with his work while she continued talking "I supposed you're right in a way, if it wasn't for father who knows how things would be now," Jun nodded rather then respond verbally knowing that she would catch the response without looking at him. "But as I said," she continued on "I do not think you are to blame for what transpired, in fact there may have been nothing you could have done considering the involvement of Laplace's Demon and his powers of prescience."

Thinking for a moment Jun responded "That might be true, but I'm still not happy with how things went, not to mention there's still the fact that Laplace could be working with the real seventh Rozen Maiden and no one knows anything about her or where she is or what she might want. There's also Suigintou as well, though I don't know what she'll do. She could choose to restart the Alice Game regardless of what your father has said, or she could choose another path." He continued brushing Shinku's hair while they both fell silent thinking about different things.

Eventually and feeling some regret at it he finished brushing her long golden hair and re-tied it back up in its two black satin ribbons, picking up the bonnet he waited for her to turn around before he placed on her head and secured it under her chin. He looked over the dress for a few moments and touching a few parts that he new were particularly delicate he was happy to see that his suspicions had proved correct and that everything had been fully restored with both the dolls and the outfits that their creator had put them in long ago.

He nodded to Shinku indicating that he was done and watched her as she stood up and inspected her hair and nodded in appreciation. Jun smiled slightly in reply and gave her a curios glance as she fidgeted a little before taking the few steps separated them. His eyes widened slightly when he realized what she intended to do but he didn't feel the need to protest as she kissed him on the cheek and stepped back again blushing slightly. His curiosity got the better of him "Was that for anything in particular?" he asked slightly joking and still marveling a little at the sensations that had been stirred up by that small action.

Shinku couldn't seem to stay still afterwards and she fidgeted before looking at him still blushing slightly "That was in thanks for what you did today, and for what you did now," was the response to his question. He nodded solemnly in reply then smiled a little at her embarrassment, though he himself was blushing slightly. Scooting over to the edge of the bed using his hands he got up carefully so as not to knock Shinku off and then walked over to his shelves one of which he had seemingly lost to the dolls that had entered his life. Sadness crept up on him as he looked at Hina Ichigo's disorganized pile of possessions on the other side of the material that hung over the edge of the shelf, separating the two dolls possessions. He reached out and touched one of her plush toys remembering her before and shook off the feelings of sadness with a renewed determination to put back the missing Rosa Mystica's and restore them to life when the time was right.

Placing the brush on Shinku's side of the shelf he turned back to his computer and walked over to the chair, looking at her and pointing at the brush he said across the room "Whenever you want me to do that again just grab your brush and come and get me, OK?" After she had nodded in understanding he sat back down in the chair and began reading from where he had left off while Shinku picked up her own book and did the same. Though he didn't realize it he and Shinku's minds were running much along the same path that it was the first time they'd even had a moment to themselves and continued on down that path to the unhappy reason why it was so. Jun cleared his mind of the unhappy thoughts that came upon him unbidden with determination to make things the way they were before and settled himself more comfortably on the chair.

His mind went over the last time he had helped a daughter of Rozen before today, when he had tapped into what he thought were his powers as a medium to repair Shinku's arm. She had told him later that day when he had done something similar "_Only the one that she has let into her heart is allowed to touch a ladies hair._" The memory further convinced him that he was walking down the correct path but only time would tell if what Rozen had told him was correct. It was something that he was going to have to discover for himself once he found his own way back to his N-field.

The evening wore on moving closer to the next day as Jun filtered through the useless mass of information in front of him looking for the small pieces that were like tiny crystals of helpful data. He looked up when the bedroom light was turned off suddenly and then looked behind him to see Shinku standing at the light switch turning it off in the usual fashion with her cane, Jun watched her as she made her way over to her case and set it down to sleep in, climbing into it. Holding the case open he heard her call out "Good night Jun," and replied in kind with "Good night Shinku, sleep well," he watched the lid close and heard its solid clink as the two half's met. He nodded satisfied with how the day had gone so far except for one particular doll. He hadn't seen Suiseiseki for most of the evening and while it was possible that she had been helping Nori though considering the days events she could even be asleep on the couch.

Trying to justify the reason to himeself for doing so as something else Jun placed Suiseiseki's case on the floor next to Shinku's and lifted the lid over to its opposite side and walked over to the bedroom door and went downstairs to see what was what. Making his way as quietly as possible over to the lounge room door Jun slowly opened the door open and went inside. Looking to prove his suspicions he carefully walked over to the couch in front of the television and lo and behold there was Suiseiseki asleep on the couch. It seemed that Nori had wrapped a blanket around her before heading to bed herself, not wanting to disturb the doll from her slumber, but it had half fallen off during the evening.

Removing the blanket entirely he carefully picked Suiseiseki up much the same way as he would carry Shinku but spread across both arms in a cradle. He was slightly worried about what would happen if Suiseiseki woke up while he was carrying her but it probably wouldn't matter either way. Walking up the stairs and almost at the top he had his misgivings as the doll in his arms started to stir and then opened her distinctive eyes, taking in the situation she began to look irate. He spoke before she said anything, hoping to avert any arguing "You fell asleep on the couch downstairs I was pretty sure that you'd rather be in your case," was all he offered by way of explanation.

Not sure what to expect from her in reaction he let out an internal sigh of relief when all Suiseiseki did was nod and remain still where she was her face clearing somewhat. Setting her down in front of the door he opened it ahead of her and followed her in and shut the door behind them. Jun walked back over to his computer intent on continuing his research and sat down in his chair facing towards the cases of the dolls.

Suiseiseki had already climbed into her case and had the lid propped up in its usual fashion with by one arm while she rested on the elbow of the other and she had an unidentifiable look on her face as she looked across the room, it was kind of freaking him out a little. Her voice called out quietly "Good night puny human, desu," and he watched an evil grin spread across her face before the closing case lid hid it. He let out an annoyed sound and smiled slightly to himself before turning back to the monitor. He had a lot of information to go through and he suspected a few late nights over the coming days or weeks, it would just depend on how long it took him to find what he needed to help Shinku and the others.

He was going to have to set aside some time and money to buy clothes as well soon given his unintended growth which had started today thanks to Rozen. Jun still wasn't sure what to feel about that man given what he had witnessed. What he was sure about though was that his life was going to get even more complicated and he was going to have to start taking things seriously when it came to the dolls. They had a penchant for going off in the middle of the night exploring the N-fields and getting in trouble.

AN: I wanted some emotion and fluff between various characters, but I didn't want to go too far over the top with it. Basically throughout the scenes on the couch and when Jun's brushing Shinku's hair think of the last episode in season one of Rozen Maiden when he does that for her before they leave the landscape of his inner self after defeating Suigintou. Shinku says to him there "Only the one that she has let into her heart is allowed to touch a ladies hair," to me this shows an emotional connection and attachment on both sides which is most likely fairly deep though uniquely expressed and from expressed emotion at the end of the first season and the end of the second there's clearly something there.

Basically my impression of the second season was that throughout a lot of it Shinku was worried about the other dolls with her, about Suigintou and about what was going on in general as well as the second season showing a lot of interaction between mostly the dolls with occasional parts by Jun and Megu. So the connections between Shinku and Jun and Jun and the other dolls weren't explored or expanded on all that much, in fact Jun was pretty much out of the action most of the time and didn't really help sway the conflict either way until the end of Traumend when he convinces Shinku to stop, which is quite different to how things go in the first season.

Traumend to me also seemed to occur over a very short period of time, Jun's school is now on summer holidays but school is clearly some time away for both him and Tomoe. Essentially in their world the events that occur during Traumend happen over a matter of weeks, most likely two to three which means that a lot happens in a very small period of time.

Anyway these are just my impressions of feelings between our two main characters as well as the time span of the different series and so on. Please review this story because I'm not 100 percent on the writing style I'm using for this story or the way I've characterized the dolls and Jun as well as various other things within it. Any feedback you guys can give me will be greatly appreciated.


	2. Chapter 1 - The Search

AN: Just a heads up guys that this story is going to start from the end of Traumend and will incorporate parts of the manga as appropriate. This means that some parts will also match up with the 2013 anime as it follows the manga closely up to near the currently final written chapter.

Hopefully this means that Peach-Pit has some motivation to finish things off or work with the anime writers for the next season.

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Disclaimer: In the original Italian version of Cinderella, the benevolent fairy godmother figure was a cat.

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Anfänge Und Enden

Beginnings and Endings

Chapter 1 – The Search

_Here we are. Living in a civilization of waste.  
Forced to rewrite the rules of recycling.  
We form a team of junk yard designers.  
And customize our wasted lands.  
Join the insanity and scrap the system.  
This is our method to madness._

Jun sat in front of the computer in his dark room. The curtains were drawn over his window blocking out the faint nighttime light present from the streetlights, house lights and if it was present in the sky, the moonlight. A week had passed since they had returned home from the battle in the N-field over who they thought would finally become Alice. Though to Jun it seemed more like a month. The events of the last few months and weeks seemed to stretch into the feeling of years passing by, from their encounter with a rebuilt Suigintou to losing Hina Ichigo it felt like so much more time had passed. For Jun it this was definitely the case, but even the rest of the maidens living in the house had needed some time to deal with things in their own ways. Jun bridged his nose with his thumb and forefinger pushing his glasses up as he rubbed the skin under his eyes, trying to relieve the tired feeling that seemed to inhabit his face at all times of the day. He'd had a busy week. Refusing to leave the house at all and sometimes even his room he powered through his schoolwork in an attempt to catch up to what he'd missed while spending his free time researching into vague mystical beliefs and flights of fancy in his attempts to discover the boundaries of his abilities and possible ways to increase his power as a medium to two dolls of Rozen.

Much of the information he looked through was useless drivel like most of the data present online. Only through sifting through large amounts of useless information would he be able to find what he was looking for. The problem was, the information he specifically wanted would, he had no doubt, only be known by Rozen himself, his former apprentice Enju and anyone else who might have knowledge of alchemy and living dolls. As he had no way to communicate with the dolls father now that they had left Barasuishou's N-field and Rozen himself would be moving around, he had no choice but to try and find the information on his own in order to improve on what he already had to work with. It was late, or early, depending on what point of view he took. He probably should have been in bed hours ago but every time he turned around in his chair he would see the large gilded brown suitcases in the corner of his room that no longer opened of their own volition and he would feel the desperate need to go on, to continue in his quest to bring the two lifeless dolls back to their sisters.

He knew Shinku and Suiseiseki had been traveling through the N-field's looking for a clue as to where Hina and Suiseiseki's Rosa Mystica had gone. He suspected that sometimes the trips were to try and discover what was going to happen next now that they knew that there was a 7th doll out there somewhere. They had no way of knowing if this doll had hostile intentions or not and in Shinku's case she was more than likely going off on her own probably to have time to reflect on what her father had asked of her given the introspective look he had seen on her face this week. Following up on what he had told her when they had returned all together Shinku had picked up the brush from the shelf on her own and brought it over to him, she had looked up with her blue eyes at him and although he see that she was hiding it well, the tightness in the corner of her eyes still gave away her sorrow. So repeating the previous process he had moved away from his desk and sat down on the bed with her to brush her hair. It seemed to both sooth and energize her at the same time and maybe helped them to strengthen the bond between medium and maiden. He would probably need to offer Suiseiseki the same service just to avoid all the trouble she would make for him if he didn't.

He didn't expect Suiseiseki to take him up on the offer but this way she wouldn't feel left out and be a horrid evil doll to everyone in some sort of complicated revenge plot. Besides, she had helped out her sisters as well and she could probably do with something nice to take her mind off the fact that her twins soul was still out there somewhere. Turning off the computer monitor Jun got up and left the room to get ready for bed. Returning from the bathroom having taken care of everything he slipped under the covers after taking off his glasses. He took a moment to look over the cases in corner of the room. The lids were closed and presumably the dolls inside were now asleep. If he was going to do this now was as good a time as any.

As he had been instructed Jun closed his eyes and imagined a flame in the center of his mind into which he pushed all of his thoughts, worries, emotions until they disappeared. Pushing down the flame until it disappeared a void expanded out inside his mind in which no thought occurred. Stray thoughts floated around the outside of the void, always present but not intruding on the focus that he needed to accomplish his goal for the night.

Retaining his centered focus he followed the process of shutting down his consciousness outside of the void, allowing part of his mind to stay lucid while slipping into a dreaming state. Jun had a feeling that tonight he would be successful, tonight he would finally be able to make use of his own N-field without having to have Suiseiseki do it for him with Sui Dream. Making sure to retain a small fraction of his focus inside the void he allowed his eyes to close naturally as the rest of his consciousness drifted off into much needed sleep, though the amount of actual rest he would get was yet to be seen. Feeling an invisible shudder move through his mind he opened his eyes to see white mist surrounding him and a copy of his bedroom door in front of him. Standing still for a moment he let his eyes roam over the door in front of him before slowly reaching out to the door handle and opening the door.

Stepping in through the white light Jun found himself once again in his field, towers of computer monitors nearby with hill covered trees behind them. Golden sunlight still shone down on his inner world while light and dark grey clouds roiled above. Taking in the mountains of plastic surrounding himsome of the monitors this time were lit up and as he looked them over memories played through on them. In one Shinku was berating him for not making her tea at 95 degrees exactly to allow the tea leaves to unfurl. In another Suiseiseki had made him fall down the stairs in the Sakurada house and candy was all over the floor. The lit up screens were dotted all around him lighting up those that were broken or turned off. VCR's and DVD players filled in the rest of the debris. Looking over at the hill on which the sewing house he had built as a summer project in elementary school had previously been he was surprised to see that it had changed significantly from his 1st visit with house now made of wood instead of looking like it had been stitched together. The large pair of scissors was still there as were the numerous spools of thread. Closing his eyes and concentrating on a picture image of himself at the entrance he feels a shift around him and opens his eyes to the sight of sewing house door in front of him. The thought '_It's pretty convenient to be able to use your own inner world properly_,' occurs on the outside of the void, for a moment he is surprised and nearly loses the void before regaining focus with a shake of his head.

Somehow he is not surprised to find that the front door is again a copy of his bedroom door '_Perhaps this is due to spending so much time in my room,'_ the thought feels right but it is not comforting given his plans for the new school year. Opening this door he is greeted by the sight of the same purple chair on which he had set down and almost inconsolable Shinku who was missing her arm, next to it the green frog that he had made still resided, grinning out at anyone who looked at it. The windows, now made of glass instead of sewn on shapes let in the light from outside in the N-field allowing him to see further into the interior of the building. Making sure to shut the door behind him he looked over the work benches covered in various tools and materials related to dolls. Parts of Shinku's dress that he had repaired were on one bench, on another spools of golden glowing thread were stacked seemingly with no rhyme or reason to their order. Some spools with thread as thick as steel cables on a suspension bridge and others with thread as fine as spider silk.

In this building was the start of a workshop of a maestro, or at least a person with the potential to become one from what he had been told. Most of the things in this building he would not be able to use without getting instruction from a proper master as an apprentice. They were merely potential skills waiting to be developed. In this day and age that instruction would probably have to come from Rozen, the chances of that happening were however slim given the current situation. Moving towards the work bench in front of him and collecting a carving tool he moved towards the back left corner of the building where one of four corner support pillars stood. Taking a moment to focus he went over his planned barrier in his mind '_Fire, water, air, earth to only allow in what I want, iron to give the barrier strength and aether to keep out the spirits I don't want in here._' Placing the sharp edge against the wood he carved out four triangles two pointing up and two pointing down in opposite positions. On one of the upwards pointing triangles a horizontal line was carved at two thirds up the triangle, the same was then done on one of downwards pointing triangles. Surrounding these symbols for earth, fire, water and air were five dots in another triangle shape representing aether. In the small gap between the elemental triangles he carved the arrow of iron to tie the alchemical defense together.

With a golden flash the symbols burned into the surface of the wood and Jun moved on to the next pillar to complete the same carving until all 4 pillars were done. Standing in the middle of the room he looked down at the floor to make sure he had a clear space. Getting down on his knees he carved the last symbol he needed '_This shall give life to my barrier_.'A small circle started in the middle, around this circle was a square that touched each cardinal edge of the circle, then a triangle which used the base of the square as its own base and then reached up to a point. Around this the finishing circle completed the symbol of the philosopher's stone. A bright red light shone out of the symbol chasing away the shadows in the room. At equal distances around the circumference of the circle and flaring with red light four lines split off to the pillars with the finished carvings and raced up them to the engravings. Jun was forced to hold his arm up in front of his eyes as golden panes of light suddenly erupted in a square all around the inside of the building as the barrier was completed.

Blinking slightly to clear his eyes of the bright lights afterimage he grinned and felt satisfaction at his first successful execution of alchemical power inside his own N-field. Turning his head he could see out of the corner of his eyes a faint golden ripple as the barriers light shifted over the walls of the house, protecting it from anything and anyone who might wish to look, listen or enter into the building without his permission. He would have safety here at least within this small portion of his own mind and soul. Now came the difficult part, he would have to try and return to his own body without any assistance from any of the dolls. Doing a mental check he centered himself in the void and closed his eyes, imagining a door back to his mind he concentrated on bending his field to his will and when he felt a sensation like a switch inside his mind he opened his eyes again. Once again a door was in front of him, this time it was the front door of the Sakurada house and acting quickly in case he lost focus he pulled open the door and walked through into the blackness in front of him where his consciousness merged back into his sleeping body.

* * *

With a jerk Jun sat up in the bed to the sound of his alarm going off while light sunlight streamed in from the sun on the other side of his curtains. More for the practice of getting up earlier over time before he went back to school considering his habit of getting up after 12pm for the a while now. A small grin crept across his face as he reflected on his success during the night. It would of course been nice to have had more time to do more but the nature of Laplace's Demon meant that he had to be quick even when in his own N-field. A creature that had knowledge of every atom in the universe and their past and present values for any given time was too dangerous for him to go against directly. The world swam back into focus as he swung his feet out of the bed and onto the wooden floor simultaneously putting his glasses back on as he got out of bed.

The dolls would be waking soon if they were not already up and about causing havoc downstairs for Nori. Looking over at the corner Jun checked to see if either of the maidens were awake but it looked like he had lucked out this morning and they were still asleep if the closed case lids were anything to go by. Quietly padding over to the door in his bare feet he left the room, closing the door behind him with a light click sound as he carefully pushed it shut. He had something nice in mind for Shinku today to try and ease her mind a little and if things went well he might even make his offer to Suiseiseki today, if she behaved anyway. If he knew Shinku, and he was pretty confident that he did, at least a little bit, she would be up shortly demanding that he make her tea. So instead he would preempt her and have it ready for her before she woke up today. Moving down the stairs he could hear what he assumed was Nori moving around in the kitchen probably making breakfast before she had to leave for lacrosse practice.

As Jun entered the entrance way and made his way into the kitchen the sound of the stairs must of made her aware as Nori stuck her head around the corner of the kitchen-dining room separator and greeted him with a cheery "Good morning Jun!" He smiled slightly at her exuberance and returned the greeting. "Good morning Nori, what are you doing down here today?" Grinning as she replied "Well I thought today I would make scrambled eggs for everyone, I cant remember if they've had that before and it's always nice to mix things up." Nodding in response he moved into the kitchen and took the yellow kettle over to the sink to fill it up with water. Their kitchen wasn't big but there was enough room for them to work around each other. Placing the kettle back onto the gas stove top several clicks could be heard as Jun turned on the gas and the ignition system worked it magic.

While he was waiting for the kettle to boil it was time for him to find his secret weapon to create tea that Shinku would definitely not be to slap him in the face with her hair over! Moving over to the cupboard opposite the stove and under the microwave he searched for a the plastic sealed implement of perfect tea making. Ah there it was! Reaching into the back of the cupboard he pulled out a new baristas thermometer and stood up. Now he just needed to find a pair of scissors to get it out of the plastic, that stuff was pretty much impossible to remove any other way. Pulling out the second drawer he rummaged around for the scissors that he knew were supposed to be in there. Having no luck he turned to his sister who was looking at him a little oddly "Nori have you seen the scissors that were in here?"

"Uh, yes, I think so. Here they are!" With a flourish she took them out from where they had been under the sink and handed them over to him, curiosity written all over her face. She was probably holding back out of habit due to his usual response to people being intrusive, so he answered her unasked question for her while using the scissors on the plastic. "This is a thermometer that baristas use when making coffee, it lets them know what temperature the contents of the milk jug are while they are frothing it up. I'm going to use it to check the temperature of Shinku's tea to make sure the water is at the right temperature while the tea leaves are in it." Nori's mouth made an O shape of understanding while she continued dealing with the pan on the stove with the eggs she was scrambling.

"Well hopefully she appreciates it," she commented, his reply died on his mouth as the kettle started to finally whistle the fact that the water was now boiling and ready to be used. Grabbing the kettle off the stove top and turning off the gas he put it to the side to let it cool down slightly before turning back to the cupboards and grabbing the air tight container of Darjeeling they had started to keep, since the Maidens had arrived in their lives. Hoping that he had remembered all the information he had researched he grabbed a measuring spoon from the still slightly open second drawer and picked up the measuring jug on the bench top. Temporarily putting down the jug he took the spoon and measured out four teaspoons worth of tea leaves into a clear glass tea plunger. Closing the lid on the container tightly he placed it back on the shelf and turned to the kettle picking it up. Trying not to be distracted by Nori who kept glancing over at him to see what he was doing he picked up the measuring jug with his other hand and poured out 350 milliliters of boiling water from the kettle.

'_Darjeeling is a white tea, so the water needs to be cooler when it goes in. If its too hot it will taste bitter instead.' _Making sure he kept his face away so that his glasses wouldn't fog up Jun took the measuring cup and grabbed the freshly unpacked thermometer putting it into the water and making sure the hook caught on the edge of the cup. Waiting for a few seconds he watched the needle on the dial at the top of the thermometer begin to move up in a clockwise direction until it stopped at 97 degrees Celsius. Making sure he was remembering everything correctly the thought crossed his mind '_That's a little warmer than I want, but the fact that the plunger is not warmed up should cool it down, and it still has to steep.' _Carefully he poured the water into the straining jug and watched as the tea leaves swirled around slowly turning the water brown. Palming his face at nearly forgetting the next step he grabbed the egg timer from near the oven and set it to three and half minutes and settled against the corner to wait for it to finish seeping. Curious as to what Nori was doing given how quiet it seemed he let out an "Ack!" Of surprise and leaned back as she appeared suddenly in front of him hands clasped together and stars in her eyes."

"Jun! You're putting so much effort into this! There's no way she wont like it!" Nori exclaimed in delight. Calming down his racing heart Jun looked away with a faint tinge of red on his cheeks mumbling "Whatever..you should probably check on your eggs you know?" With a gasp his sister turned back quickly to the pan to rescue the batch of scrambled eggs she had been cooking. Congratulating himself mentally on successfully diverting his sister from whatever embarrassing path she had been thinking along he kept his eyes on the timer, watching it slowly count down the seconds to the next stage. Finally the timer hit zero and rang out for a few seconds with a shrill bell sound. Grabbing the plunger on the top he pushed down into the jug filtering out the majority of the tea leaves. Checking in the top drawer he grabbed one of many tea strainers they now owned and held it over the tea pot to filter out the remaining tea leaves as he poured them in.

Grabbing the thermometer he placed it into the tea pot to check the water temperature again and watched the needle move around to the 86 degree mark before stopping. It wasn't the mythical 95 that Shinku had asked for when they first met but he was pretty certain that what he had researched was correct as far as higher temperatures being better suited to harder black teas instead of white ones. _'Wow, I'm getting way too into this,'_ was his immediate realisation. Being the medium of a tea connoisseur though meant that it was probably inevitable that he would go down this path though. If only to avoid being slapped in the face by a bunch of hair. Taking the kettle and collecting fresh cups and saucers and placed them on the tray to be taken out to the dining room. Nori still seemed busy and was humming a tune under her breath while cooking another set of scrambled eggs. His ears caught the faint sound of the stairs, most likely as Suiseiseki and Shinku made their way down to the ground floor. Picking up the tray he carrier it over to the dining table on the other side of the separator and placed it in front of Shinku's usual seat and looked over at the staircase to see that he had been correct.

Both dolls looked rested, it was hard to tell sometimes with these two even if he was their medium. They also both had curious looks in their eyes as they made their way over to the table as he finished pouring a cup of tea for Shinku and with a "Good morning you two," he set the cup and saucer down in front of her as she finished getting up onto the cushion on her seat. Raising one delicate eyebrow she picked up the cup and took a sip while he tired to watch for her reaction circumspectly. He nearly let out a sigh of relief as he saw the small smile on her face appear. Her blue eyes were sharp with an undefinable emotion peaking out of their depths as she looked up at him from the cup and said "It would seem that you have finally learned how to make an acceptable cup of tea Jun." Her smile however took the bite out of her words and he grinned back.

"Even someone like me has to get there eventually right?" He questioned as he turned away to hid his grin and walked back around to the kitchen to help Nori bring out breakfast for everyone. Carrying the plates back out to the table the thought occurred to him _'Even these two need a break every now and again, who knows if they actually stayed in their cases last night.'_ He would make his offer to Suiseiseki after breakfast, the fact that he had Shinku to back him up as far as the genuineness of his offer would probably stop Suiseiseki from coming up with some sort of plot against him, probably involving his bedroom now though he was content with the start of his day and he couldn't help the grin on his face. Maybe, just maybe things were starting to move in a more positive direction for them all.

* * *

AN: so that's the next chapter done, it's been a while since I did a new chapter from scratch, not counting my recent editing of the prologue.

The alchemy symbols mentioned are legitimate and come from the late 17th century. The tea brewing method is also something I looked into as well. The stuff I'm digging up in my research is pretty interesting, especially on the figure that Rozen is said to be based on. Hopefully you will enjoy it as it gets integrated in my own way into this story.

Comments and criticisms would be appreciated.


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